


In The End

by White_Noise



Series: The Casualty of War Series [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, I'm done with Steve, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Or he has just gone crazy, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Steve seems happy, Steve's Pov, The others are done with Steve, except for Steve, i don't know how to tag anymore, no happy ending, questionable moral decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8053771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Noise/pseuds/White_Noise
Summary: As Steve had suspected, Ross had never found the HYDRA base. The dead Winter Solders were still where they had been left, frozen guardians of a grim scene. There was dry blood covering the floor, Steve unable to distinguish between Bucky's, Tony's and his own as he relived the scene inside his head. But that wasn't what Steve was looking for. Buried in the ice by one of the walls, in the exact place where Tony had lay helpless against Steve's attack, was a twisted piece of red and gold metal.(An end to The Casualty of War series)





	In The End

**Author's Note:**

> So this sort of started as an end to my 'Casualty of War' series. Then it kinda went rogue and well....
> 
> Basically, I am leaving it to you, the readers to make your own judgement. Ignore it if you don't like it or don't. I am putting it in as part of this series but I understand that the tone is different.

In the end, the Avengers did stand up at the trial and say their peace, showing their evidence of unlawful detainment and illegal imprisonment.

It didn't bring Tony back.

In the end, Ross was convicted of all charges, his name dragged through the mud he claimed was better than the enhanced beings, the human experiments, the Avengers.

It didn't bring Tony back.

In the end, Steve’s team moved back into the Compound. They were greeted sonically yet politely by the remains of the teammates they had abandoned for reasons no one could really understand in light of what had happened. The long standing trust between them damaged but not yet broken, their only reason for returning, the last gift to a dead man who had just wanted them home.

It didn't bring Tony back. 

In the end, B.A.R.F was successful in breaking the conditioning and freeing Bucky from the years of Hydra conditioning. As Tony's pardon had promised, he was released into the custody of the remaining Avengers at the Compound and even invited to train alongside them, the technology created by the child he left an orphan saving him from his living hell.

It didn't bring Tony back. 

In the end, Wakanda opened up is boarders, sending many of its world class scientists and doctors to Stark Industry to assist in many joint operations with the business, developing many ways of treating physical and psychological injuries which would be cheap and easily accessible to the whole world. The profits from such ventures going to the newly formed Tony Stark Foundation, a charity created to assist those injured or displaced as a result of major catastrophes caused by alien/supervillain intervention.

It didn't bring Tony back.

In the end, a secret file was discovered in one of FRIDAY’s servers by Doctor Banner, a continuous series of brain scans taken of Tony over the year’s right up to the very day of his death. These, along with years’ worth of recordings of his voice, were encoded into one of Tony's spare AIs, leading to the program TONY (Steve thought it stood for Too Obviously Not You) TONY was installed as the main AI in the Compound and for the Avengers (FRIDAY had been left to Pepper in Tony’s will and became the lead AI for all other Stark Buildings and SI dealings.) Sometimes, when Steve closed his eyes, he could imagine that the genius was in the room with him as he listened to the AI. It was a nice fantasy.

It didn't bring Tony back.

In the end, Steve could never go back to being Captain America. Although his military rank had been stripped off him, after everything had been settled the US government had asked for the return of their symbol. Steve had tried to appease them but the fantasy would always end the moment he realised Iron Man was not going to swoop down from somewhere with a joking "Capsical" and a wink. Instead, Steve took on a role with the re-born SHIELD, going by either his codename ‘Nomad’ or his newly earned SHIELD Rank. Captain America was no more. Commander Rogers stood in his place. Only TONY still called Steve ‘Cap’ in his old mocking tone. The AI was the only one the former soldier would even let get away with it, even the other Avengers learning quickly that the Commander was not as forgiving as he had once been.

It didn't bring Tony back. 

In the end, Ross never made it to prison. Officially, he was killed by another unidentified inmate in a holding cell while the camera conveniently malfunctioned. No one questioned how this was possibly when Ross had been kept in solitary confinement for his own safety. No one questioned the fact that the Commander happened to be in the same city that very day, nor the fact that he had visited the police station where Ross was being held to "support our fine policemen and women", no one questioned why, for 15 minutes, the cameras in the cells malfunctioned and by the time they were working again, Ross was dead from blunt force trauma to the head. Ross’s death was labelled an accident. The world moved on.

It didn't bring Tony back.

In the end, the Accords didn’t last. The UN finding only months after it was implemented that the control of the Avengers and stopping them from doing anything was not in the best interest of the world as a whole. Those 100+ countries who had spoken out against the Avengers, had tried to drag the heroes names in the mud, to turn them into villains for doing the right thing and had strong armed Tony into becoming their spokesman, quickly realising that their attempts to control the heroes were not in their best interests now that Ross was no longer in power and there was no one left to champion the cause. Instead, a new committee was set up, who would lease with the Commander or one of the other senior Avengers whenever the Avengers were required and time permitted. The committee was unlike the Accords in that it allowed the Avengers control over their missions and the freedom to do what needed to be done without fight from international bodies. It was so much better than the Accords which had almost been forced on the heroes. Steve knew that Tony would have loved it. After all, Steve had worked so hard to make it work in Tony’s honour, to get that balance Tony had really wanted, even if the UN had fought them in the early days.

It didn’t bring Tony back.

It took several years to accept the truth. Tony Stark was not coming back.

Or was he?

\-----

The sunlight rolled, unfiltered into Steve’s room as the curtains drew back automatically, shining down on the sleeping Supersolider.

“Wakey, wakey Captain Snooze.”

Rolling over, Steve automatically threw his arm over his eyes to block out the sudden light, groaning softly. The voice laughed and a high pitched beeping noise rang through the room.

“Nice try Mon Capitan. Not going to work.”

“Shut up.” The tired hero muttered. He had gotten to bed a lot later than normal, these last few days and was feeling the effects of his deprived sleep.

The beeping got louder, the curtains starting to shake, causing light and shadows to dance across the room.

“Nope. You wanted to get up at this god awful hour. I’m just here to make sure you do.”

Sighting, Steve lowered his arm.

“Alright, alright!” He replied, pushing the blankets away and slowly sitting up. The alarms cut off, the curtains going deathly still, leaving Steve jolting from the sudden loss.

“Awww! Stevie got up on the wrong side of the bed.” The voice teased, cutting through the sudden silence as Steve stretched his arms above his head, feeling the tension leave his shoulders.

“I can have you deleted TONY.” The man warned, running a hand through his blond hair.

“No you can’t.” TONY replied. Steve could practically hear the smugness in the voice. Had the AI had a physical form, Steve had no doubt it would be smiling. Had the AI had a physical form, Steve had no doubt that smile would be on the face of Tony Stark. A prang of longing shot through the soldier, his arms twitching to embrace the long dead man. “You love me too much. Now up and at’em, Soldier Boy.”

Still stretching, Steve slid his legs off his bed and slowly stood up, ignoring the familiar banter. Every morning, it seemed, TONY found some other way to tease Steve that would inevitably make him think of the real man who was no longer by his side. 

Glancing back at the bed, Steve tried not to think of how big it was, designed for two people. It was true that despite their relationship, they hadn’t often shared a bed. Steve could count on 2 hands, the number of times he had fallen asleep next to the genius. 

Their relationship hadn’t even gotten to the physical stage before the Accords had torn them apart. Not from lack of want on Steve’s part either. Despite what people thought, Steve was not a blushing virgin and had never been shy of his physical urges. It was Tony who had slowed everything down, wanting to wait before sex. The playboy had claimed he was ‘nervous of corrupting a national treasure’ and Steve had respected him for that. But now, with the genius gone, Steve couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had pushed Tony just a little bit out of his comfort zone. Would it have changed anything? Or would it have just left Steve with more memories that he could not relive?

Well, not relive just yet.

That was part of the reason for the early wake up call. Today, after so much work, Bruce was going to find out if his theory had worked. If they were going to see Tony again.

Steve hadn’t told the other Avengers of his hopes. Hell, he hadn’t even told TONY and the AI had become his confidant after Sam had walked out on him when the truth about Siberia had first come to light. Steve had many regrets over keeping Howard and Maria Stark’s murder a secret but he had never thought those regrets would extend to keeping it a secret from his whole team.

It was only after everything had come to light that Steve had learnt of the harsh words and hatred thrown at Tony by those he had thought of as family, how his team mates now regrated their behaviour once the truth had come out. How betrayed they were by Steve keeping secrets from not just Tony but from them all. 

It had been like the USO tours on the front line all over again. The biting remarks, the backhanded comments, Clint’s outright disgust.

And it hadn’t just been directed at Steve. Natasha too had copped some of the backlash, having known about Bucky’s involvement in the deaths since the reveal of Hydra’s infiltration of SHIELD and Zola’s taunts from beyond the grave.

Unlike Steve, Natasha seemed strangely immune to the mistrust of their friends directed at her. But even she had been affected in her behaviour towards Steve, not speaking to him outside of missions, their friendship taking a backseat to the horror of what had happened to Tony. 

It was why Steve had withdrawn from the others, only really talking to TONY and Bucky unless about Avengers business. Bucky had always had Steve’s back when they were children, and even now that still held true, their shared trauma from the war and being on the run together had bound them closer then brothers. There was even a rumour that Bucky was going to take up the mantle of Captain America now that Steve couldn’t. And TONY, although smug most of the time, couldn’t hold a grudge. It wasn’t in the AIs programming. Steve had made sure of that during the initial coding. 

Yet Steve found he couldn’t tell TONY about well…Tony.

He didn’t have many people he could call true friends anymore and the AI represented the last moments of one of them.

But that wouldn’t matter soon. Soon, if Bruce was right, it would all go back to normal. Tony would be back, would be home. He would forgive Steve and since Steve had already forgiven him, everything would go back to normal.

Steve had to believe that or else he might go crazy.

Leaving the bedroom, Steve made his way to the communal kitchen.

It was already crowded. Sam was sitting at the kitchen bench with Vision, the two talking quietly as Sam ate breakfast. Wanda sat on Visions other side, her dark eyes flashing red as she studied everyone carefully, like she was looking for any signs of betrayal. Wanda had a life time of hurt and guilt and had been a great help to Steve after the fall out of Tony’s death.

On the other side of the bench, Peter stood, the boy failing to hide the fact that he was eavesdropping on the pair as he mashed up his cereal. The young hero was now a certified Avenger although occasionally (when Wanda wasn't nearby and able to talk him out of it) he would withdraw from the team, glaring at Steve accusingly. The boy still missed Tony greatly, despite their short acquaintance and would every so often fall into a fit of temper with the other Avengers. But the boy trusted Vision and in the end, it was enough to keep him returning to the Avengers whenever called.

Bucky wasn’t in the room, more likely in the gym or the Armory. Steve's best friend had surprised everyone by being pro-Accords and nothing Steve could say could deter the man from signing the documents Pepper had left in Wakanda. Thankfully, the whole thing had fallen through before it had become an issue, although Steve was becoming more and more aware that the man who he had pulled from Hydras grip was not the same man he had fought in the war with, or even the boy he had grown up with.

Bucky was still his best friend and one of the few people he still talked with but in a way, it felt like the Bucky he had known had died that day in the Alps, when he had fallen off that train. 

Bruce has returned to the team as a full time Avenger, although he spent most of his time in his private lab at Stark Tower which Tony had left him, only coming to the Compound when it was an emergency. 

Scott Lang too was an occasional Avenger, when not with his daughter or doing work for Hank Pym.

Natasha wasn’t around at the moment and Clint was gone. After the end of the fighting, it seemed that something had broken in both assassins, Natasha going on more and more solo missions and Clint…well. Clint hadn’t taken the fallout of the fighting well, Laura Barton filing for divorce soon after the team was pardoned and taking the kids with her. Turns out a man who would promise to retire and then happily break that promise to become an international criminal without even telling his wife where he was going or even letting her know he was alive for months was not someone she wanted near her children. 

He was now living in a small apartment, occasionally doing solo work and acting as a mentor for the new Hawkeye Kate Bishop and her team if teenage crime fighters. Only during major emergencies did Clint turn up back at the Compound, ready to go.

Rhodey had cut all ties with the team, his bitter remarks and accusing gaze too much for the rest of the team to deal with. War Machine was still active, despite the soldier’s injuries but only on special request of the US military, Rhodey using his time and the money left to him by Tony to run the charity in his best friend’s name. 

Stark Industry had also cut ties with the Avengers, Pepper Potts making it clear she blamed the team (apart from Bruce) for Tony’s death. Steve had been glad to see her go to be honest, her behaviour towards Bucky being particularly vicious. The teams funding now coming from private donations and grateful governments around the world. 

Steve had never realised just how much money, time and technology Tony had given to the Avengers Initiative until he had been forced to coordinate funds after Tony’s death, even SHIELD shying away from assisting their own program once they realised the monumental cost of running the Avengers. It turns out they had relied on Tony for much more than just being Iron Man and assisting in battle.

There were also new Avengers added to the roster, apart from the Winter Soldier, Spiderman, Ant-Man and occasionally Black Panther. Captain Marvel and Wasp had also joined the team, not to mention the assistance the team got from Reed Richards group, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Wolverine was also an occasional member of the team and they had to almost fight Deadpool off with a stick whenever the mercenary was in town. The man seemed to have an unnatural ability to know where Spiderman was and appear in the same place, once even dressed in a cheerleading outfit (it didn't help that Peter tended to talk back to the mercenary, something which Deadpool seemed to take as encouragement and/or flirting.)

In all, the Avengers had survived their hideous confrontation, their ‘Civil War’. 

Stepping past the rest of him team, Steve nodded his greeting as he collected a cup of coffee. Like most mornings, he didn't stay to talk. There was nothing really to talk about, given the still gaping rift between him and the rest of the team. 

Turning on his heels, Steve turned away from the kitchen, cup of coffee now in hand. If he was to follow his normal morning routine, this would be a signal that he was heading back to his room to change into workout clothes for his morning run. But not today. 

Instead, Steve entered the main elevator, asking TONY to send him downstairs to the science labs. The AI did so thankfully without comment, sending the metal container down to the lower levels of the Compound. 

Bruce had arrived at the Compound several days before on Steve’s request, despite his minor protests over the idea, taking over one of the old medical labs for this possible experiment or more accurately, the remains of Doctor Cho's Regeneration Cradle. 

Doctor Cho was another person who had cut ties with the Avengers. She had been a good friend of both Tony and Bruce and despite it not being her fault, blamed herself for the Ultron mess. After Sokovia, she had tried to decommission the cradles, despite Tony's protests. 

Eventually, only one cradle remained, the partially destroyed one at the Compound, which Ultron had used to create Vision.

But even with the physical machine, it had taken a lot of work to get a good understanding of how to use it. Helen's original design had been only able to achieve minor regeneration but this one, altered by Helen while under the influence of Ultron was a lot more powerful, and a lot more unstable. Finally, after a lot of work on Bruce's part, Helen had given up the secrets to her device and after extensive talks with Wanda, Bruce had managed to piece together what he needed to know to repair and restore the device and operate it successfully.

Add DNA and let the machine do its work. A new body. A new Tony. Iron Man would live once again.

Finding a clean enough sample of DNA had been the next hurdle. Tony had been cremated, his ashes thrown to the winds. Most of his clothes and items had been either destroyed or given away. The old Iron Man suits too had been cleaned of all residue, Tony developing a habit early on in having either JARVIS or FRIDAY clean the suits after each use. 

DNA samples swiped by SHIELD years ago had also been contaminated, not that Director Coulson was willing to give it up to Steve anyway without just reason and Steve wasn't willing to tell anyone outside of Bruce and Wanda (who, aside from assisting Bruce in convincing Helen to give up her knowledge, would be needed to assist in bringing Tony back once the body was ready) his plan, in case he failed. 

Eventually, Steve had found his sample, although he had been forced to return to the deserted Hydra Base in Siberia where he had last seen Tony alive. 

As he had suspected, Ross had never found the base, Vision being the one to rescue Tony after the fight. The dead Winter Solders were still where they had been left, frozen guardians of a grim scene. There was dry blood covering the floor, Steve unable to distinguish between Bucky's, Tony's and his own as he relived the scene inside his head. 

But that wasn't what Steve was looking for. Buried in the ice by one of the walls, in the exact place where Tony had lay helpless against Steve's attack, was a twisted piece of red and gold metal.

With gloved hands to prevent any cross-contamination, Steve quickly unearthed the Iron Man helmet. Inside was exactly what Steve had been looking for. Dried blood, sweat, saliva and hair left over from the battle. 

The helmet was transported back to the Compound to Bruce to handle. Then, once everything was ready, Bruce set the machine to work. 

That had been a week ago. 

By Bruce’s calculation, today should be the day they find out if it worked. 

The metal door of the elevator opened soundlessly, Steve stepping out into the dim. Bruce was already in the lab, looking at calculations on a projection screen. Steve nodded to him, his eyes drawn to the cradle in the middle of the room. 

Without speaking, the former soldier made his way to the coffin shaped machine, setting his coffee cup down on a bench as he passed. Until now, he had deliberately avoided the lab and the machine, not wanting to see the body forming inside. But for the first time, he allowed himself looked down through the glass panels. 

Inside a body lay, fully formed.

Steve could see the familiar shape of the strong jaw and brow, the slight muscles of the arms and chest, devoid of familiar scars. The stocky, slightly smaller build of the body and the familiar dark hair. 

Placing a hand down on the grass above the body, Steve smiled for the first time in a long time.

“Hi Tony.” He muttered. 

Soon, everything was going to be back to normal.

**Author's Note:**

> So the end or not. Part of the series or not. I am leaving it up to you all to decide. The first half was defiantly part of the series but the second half...
> 
> I am sure a few of you who are following the series are going to be pissed at that ending because well, Steve doesn't deserve that ending but it just kinda happened. Plus, I was really sad no one has explored the Regeneration Cradle idea any further. It was such an interesting idea. Plus, I kinda wanted to imply that Steve is not quiet right anymore. Maybe he is insane, maybe he is just turning evil. I tried to imply that he sabotaged the Accords and hasn't learnt anything from what happened, still believing that he was in the right. 
> 
> I wanted to imply that the Avengers are not quiet right anymore that that, at least Peter is being controlled to an extent by Wanda to keep him in line and maybe the others as well. I also wanted Bucky to be pro-Accords because Bucky is sensible and I can't believe that the MCU version of him wouldn't like the idea of being help accountable.
> 
> Also, please don't be angry at my version of Bruce. In the MCU, he does tend to let himself get talked into things plus, he has his own reasons for helping Steve and with Wanda involved, who knows if he is even working of his own free will? I decided not to go into it because this is Steve's POV and I don't think Steve would really care why Bruce is doing what he is doing as long as he gets Tony back. 
> 
> Anyway, I don't plan any more for this series so I am saying that is the end. Instead, I want to finish my other Stony story and I have a new, Post CW MCU story planned (It's gonna be a Spideypool story of sorts, which should be interesting in the MCU with Jailbait Peter and Creeper Wade) which won't be Stony (at least that is the plan)
> 
> Update: Ok, I couldn't wait. First chapter/teaser for my post CW Spideypool Fic 'Wade Wilson's Epic, Totally True and Not at all Creepy Romance with Spiderman Which Totally Did Not Start with an Attempt to Murder Tony Stark' has been posted.


End file.
